The recent Airtel Money blackout: This is what caused it and how it was resolved

Airtel has come up to defend it’s position regarding the recent turmoil surrounding it’s mobile payments service, Airtel Money. This comes at the back of an uproar from users who couldn’t transact using Airtel Money, neither pay for bills amongst other options offered by the service. Several sources came out to inform this blog that the blackout was attributed to a platform switch failure. This blackout frustration led one of the MPs who had started to gather evidence from the public in order to sue the big red telco, but luckily Airtel resolved the issue before he could go any further. The outrage was also exhibited over social media and forums by disgruntled customers whose money laid unusable over the course of the shutdown. After the issue was resolved, Airtel has apologetically come up to put all this to rest and had this to say;

“Following an upgrade of the Airtel Money platform, a few of our customers have experienced intermittent service over the last 7 days. The platform has been down undergoing a series of upgrades to enable our customers enjoy an improved and superior customer experience” Paul Langlois, Airtel Money Director Airtel Uganda further explained that “In light of the growth that we have experienced in the recent past, it was imperative that regular improvements are carried out. This upgrade will eliminate issues of capacity in terms of timeouts while transacting especially during peak times,”.
The upgrading exercise that occurred on 6th Jun 2016 underwent a series of upgrades causing inconveniences to some of the Airtel Money subscribers and “partners” that utilize this platform as a transaction channel. “We apologize to the customers that experienced challenges in transacting however, the system has been stabilized and services restored and we expect our customers to enjoy a better experience,” Langlois added.
Airtel customers can now pay their bills, send and receive money over Airtel Money without any disruption.